Plots interview

Plots is like the renaissance man of many different genres of underground music. He's from Philadelphia but went to college in Pittsburgh and within the few short years he's kicked up a serious buzz in the local "scene" as well as places a little more distant, like Italy when working with producer Jammineye. Check it out as I ask him a bunch of annoying questions.

TheThrowAwayDays) Are people usually more surprised when they find out you're a rapper or a rocker?
Plots) People are definitely more surprised to hear that I rap, or at least when I first started taking it seriously. I'm not sure if surprised is the right word, though. People are usually just like "oh, I didn't know you did that. Cool."

T-TAD)  I dare you to list every band/rap group you've been in and what you've done in it.
Plots)That is an impossible task. Seriously, there's over 50. Right now I'm playing guitar in Latecomer, and we have a record (fucking finally) coming out this spring. Off the top of my head, some of the Pittsburgh bands I've been in are Leaps & Bounds, Unit 731, MTG, Terminate and Jarvis.

T-TAD) Did being in a rap group with a lot of hype like The 1's and 2's get you a lot of chickies in college? If so you ever think about going back and 'Billy Madison-ing' that shit?
 Plots) Well, it's important to note that I'm actually still in college. If all goes according to plan I'll be be graduating in August with like 5 pieces of paper saying I can write, play/read music and talk politics with you. That wasn't your question though, so I'll play ball...the answer is no, the 1s and 2s never really got me any extra female attention, and if it did I'm obviously too dense to have noticed. Rap, in general, has done more harm than good to my love life.

T-TAD) What did you go to college for?
Plots)  I'm a non-fiction writing, political science, and music major. I have no idea how it happened and I'm counting the seconds until I can be done with it and start selling my body to pay off the debt I'm destined to drown in.

T-TAD) Where are each of the members of The 1's and 2's now?
Plots) Right this second? Dave is more than likely at Tree Lady Studios working on some kind of project, because he is an absolute workaholic and it's 2:30 on a Thursday. Joe is probably somewhere in Friendship or Bloomfield closely guarding the small collection of fitted hats and tshirts I've left at his house. 

T-TAD) How did you meet Doomshark and how is he the laziest producer on earth?
Plots) I met Doomshark through a mutual friend a few years ago and moved in with him 3 weeks later. I suspect his laziness has something to do with being exhausted from living with the weight of being a shark of doom. Side note: he raps now, and his shit is dope. He's highjacking at least part of my set on the 13th.

https://soundcloud.com/the1sand2s/plots-blasphemy-produced-by

T-TAD) I heard after your show February 13th you may never play a live rap show again, how come?
Plots) As much as I love doing shows, it's just time to fade into the background for awhile. I never meant to imply that I'd never play a rap show again, I just don't see it happening for a long time, and by then I'll probably be living elsewhere.


T-TAD) When you put out 'The Struggle vol. 1' did you have any "goals" with rapping? If so what were they and how did you get from recording demos on a Mac to doing cds with Jammineye
Plots)When I put out The Struggle Vol. 1 I was fucking around with Garageband because my friends gassed me up enough to think I might be able to make something that wasn't total garbage. They were wrong, because those first few "mixtapes" were absolute trash, haha, and I hope they never turn up on the internet someday when I'm 30 or have kids. That shit was vulgar. So Social was the first record I sank real time and feeling into, and I think it shows. I have Preston Rahbari to thank for that. I went from making records with him to the Jammineye material, he got a job making real records and apparently is helping out with the Roots latest. Yeah, those Roots.

Jammineye, for the record, is a fucking genius. I'm doing him a favor by hanging it up. If I can help him "get put on" from the records we made together, then it was all a success.

T-TAD) Are you ever going to put out a physical copy of anything?
Plots)I'm going to burn my entire "discography" onto blank CDs, play them on my old Walkman on full volume, and record that with that little tape recorder thing from Home Alone 2. Then I'll give you that tape recorder, because you can't take the tapes out. You gotta give it back, though. I love that thing.

T-TAD) What projects  are you working on in the near future?
Plots) Latecomer's record should be coming out by the end of March. I'm quite excited for it. I just tell people we're Tony Hawk Pro Skater-core. If you like punk rock, you'll dig it. It's pretty eclectic.

I'm also hesitant to say this, because there's a good chance it might take me a lot longer to put together, but I'm almost done writing a third Jammineye record. Dave and I might get really drunk and track it in one night, like we did the first one.
Thanks for the luv, Pittsburgh. Let's go Flyers.


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Garfield Artworks 1-19-2012 with Stillborn Identity, 30 Realm, Plots, and GINO

Holy shit I'm slow at updating this, but considering no one checks it I guess it doesn't matter. This show happened and I have some footage of it. It was a pretty rough start, it was one of the first days it snowed bad. The show got cancelled because of weather, then out of no where like 15 people showed up despite the fact. It was a small crowed but everyone ripped it anyways.

I couldn't figure out how to post Plots video of him doing Bravado at the show because I'm apparently stupid


Plots (of The 1's and 2's) did a set with Ferg. He did a bunch of songs off So Social because it was my first time going to a show in Pittsburgh for a while and he knows I dig on that album. Indaglo (of The 1's and 2's) came up for a few tracks.

Plots and Indaglo doing Bastard Child...

I feel like The 1's and 2's could be the next group to blow up out of Pittsburgh. They get all sorts of well deserved hype, and I'm way more into them than the last few clowns to blow up from this area. With that in mind it's weird that no one seems to notice Plot's solo stuff as much even though it's equally as good and he's been doing it for longer. But what the hell do I know.

Gino doing an acapella

GINO is by far the most talented rapper in Pittsburgh. He's totally slept on, but it's only a matter of time till everyone notices. He just got out of the army so he hasn't been playing shows for to long in the area. Once he puts out a mixtape every half-assed rapper is fucked.
    
30 Realm held it down. Totally solid dudes/dudets. I've only met them a few times but I'm into it.

I(Stillborn Identity) don't remember much about my set. Which usually means I was drunk, but with the roads being as bad as they were, and my car being uninsured and uninspected I didn't want to take anymore risks than I had to and stayed dead sober.  My set probably still sucked though.

Plots - So Social

Don't let the photo booth cover art fool you, this album bumps. Plots, originally of Philadelphia now residing in Pittsburgh, Pa put this out in 2010 as his first hip hop release(excluding the mixtape titled The Struggle he did under the name Rich Anthony) Since this he's put out plenty of material, both solo and with his crew The 1s and 2s, but So Social stands out to me as my favorite release of his yet. With brutally honest lyrics over mostly Doomshark beats it's hard not to take something from this release.

this ep is only online for free so download it for free
then buy something from the 1s and 2s
and check his facebook out for show updates and new releases

Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Youngstown. "Piffalotown"

Wednesday March 2nd was the cristening of a new Pittsburgh venue with Dos Noun, who you thought was done rapping but has been killing it undercover for nearly half a decade since his retirement, MC Homeless who recently dropped his album 27 that you can buy on itunes or stream part of it on his myspace and still bumps jams from his first full length Trapped Under An Ohio Sky, Plots whose ep So Social you can download for free, and Stillborn Identity who also has an ep you can download for free called Less is More.
Thursday March 3rd at The Vault in Buffalo, Ny.  MC Homeless, Stillborn Identity, Frigid Giant splitting a set with Mic Mechannic of Narror Minded Youth, MilkSoda, and Zev spitting over a live improv band.

While waiting for his birthday show, Homeless anticipated his death around each corner eager not to join the 27 club, but lo and behold his 28th birthday was celebrated with great success in Youngstown, Oh Saturday March 5th thanks to some recent press he received in the local Youngstown paper among other things.